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Lahore-Amritsar bus to start by
No terrorist camps, says Pakistan
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30 key Al-Qaida men identified as suspects for London blasts
Arson attacks on UK mosques
Pentagon denies knowledge of leaked British memo
Sir Ganga Ram Memorial to be restored
No compromise on Kashmir: Pak minister
NASA to send Kalpana’s picture aboard Discovery
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Lahore-Amritsar bus to start by July-end
Islamabad, July 11 “The federal government asked us about logistics, security and other issues relating to the bus service and we told them that everything was ready on our side and that the service could start as early as the end of this month,” a senior Punjab Tourism Ministry official was quoted by a daily as saying. India and Pakistan signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in Islamabad in May to start a bus on the 56-km route. However, at the time of signing the MoU, both sides were not sure of the details of the service, including its frequency and other arrangements. “There are no logistics or any other issues. The only issue is security, which will be dealt by federal agencies and not by us,” the official told the Daily Times, adding “the service will run thrice a week on alternate days. It won’t run on the days that the Lahore-Delhi bus operates.” However, he said no progress had yet been made on the proposed Nankana Sahib-Amritsar bus service.
— PTI |
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No terrorist camps, says Pakistan
Islamabad, July 11 Mr Natwar Singh said in an interview with the BBC last night that he told Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz that the terrorist camps had not been dismantled. “We have the photographs and I have told him that we can provide them with evidence,” he added. “Such charges will not help the ongoing peace process between the two countries,” Mr Jilani said. The spokesperson described the accusations as the “legacy of a past era when relations between the two countries were tense and such politically-motivated charges were levelled against Pakistan.” “We have now embarked on a peace process. We are engaged in negotiations for settlement of all outstanding issues and to seek a final settlement of the Jammu and Kashmir issue in accordance with the aspirations of the Kashmiri people,” he said. Mr Jilani said, “sincerity to the ongoing peace process demands purposeful and result-oriented negotiations for the settlement of the Kashmir issue and improvement of human rights situation in the valley,” he added.
— UNI |
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30 key Al-Qaida men identified as suspects for London blasts
About 30 Al-Qaida fighters and sympathisers have been identified as suspects for the London terror attacks on Thursday, The Independent has learnt.
The mixture of foreign and British-born suspects are being investigated as part of a massive inquiry to track down those responsible for last Thursday's attacks. The cell responsible is believed to number from four to 12 persons, anti-terrorist sources have revealed. The sources also disclosed that an initial group of about 30 key suspects had been identified from the hundreds of pieces of intelligence collected by MI5, MI6, Scotland Yard's anti-terrorist branch, and the bugging centre at GCHQ (the Government Communication Headquarters) in Cheltenham. The material includes phone taps and reports from foreign agents and police forces. Among the 30-odd key suspects being investigated by British intelligence officers is Mustafa Setmariam Nasar, a 47-year-old Syrian, who is believed to be in hiding in Iraq or on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. Nasar is considered to be a likely suspect because he has lived in London and has contacts there going back 10 years. He is known to have organised terrorist training camps in Afghanistan and is believed to be the mastermind behind the Madrid train bombings which killed 191 persons. Another suspect is Mohammed al Gerbouzi, a Moroccan, who is wanted for questioning in connection with attacks in Casablanca and Madrid. He has been granted British citizenship, but is believed to be in hiding in London. Intelligence agencies are increasingly finding Al-Qaida suspects are becoming familiar with how they operate and are taking counter espionage measures, such as avoiding using mobiles and telecommunications that can be bugged. Most terrorist experts believe from the initial details of the attacks that an experienced bomber with skills, probably gained from an Al-Qaida training camp, was involved. But Lord Stevens, former commissioner of the Metropolitan Police — then Sir John —predicted yesterday that the London bombers were "almost certainly" British. Lord Stevens, who served as commissioner for five years before retiring this year, said the bombers were "totally aware of British life and values" and although international terrorists may have provided the expertise, it was "wishful thinking" to suspect the perpetrators came from abroad. He said: "I'm afraid there's a sufficient number of people in this country willing to be Islamic terrorists that they don't have to be drafted in from abroad." He continued: "The bombers will be apparently ordinary British citizens, young men conservatively and cleanly dressed and probably with some higher education. Highly computer literate, they will have used the internet to research explosives, chemicals and electronics. "They are also willing to kill without mercy —and to take a long time in their planning." He added: "We believe that up to 3,000 British-born or British-based people have passed through Osama bin Laden's training camps over the years. Detectives revealed that the three bombs on Tube trains at Aldgate, Edgware Road and King's Cross had exploded almost simultaneously at 8.50am. Technical data from London Underground showed there was a gap of about 50 seconds between the first and third explosions. — By arrangement with The Independent, London. |
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Arson attacks on UK mosques
London, July 11 Mosques in Leeds, Belvedere, Telford and Birkenhead were the targets of arson attacks following the blasts in London underground and a bus that had killed at least 50 and injured hundreds. Three further attacks were reported on mosques in east London and Bristol. A number of incidents of hate crime and racially and religiously motivated offences had occurred, senior police spokesman Commander Brian Paddick said yesterday. “We have had a number of incidents of hate crime, racially and religiously motivated offences, and we take these types of offences very, very seriously,” he told reporters. “There has been one serious injury,” he said. In the attack on the east London mosque, 19 windows were smashed, according to The Muslim News. In Hayes, Middlesex, an Asian woman reported attempted arson after she noticed “liquid” dripping down her door and smelt petrol” on the day of the terrorist attacks. The same day, five white men were arrested after bottles were thrown at the windows of a gurdwara in south London. In a separate incident, arson was reported at the home of an Asian family in the Broadway, Southall. Sikh community leaders have asked the police for greater protection after a gurudwara in Kent was set on fire on Friday. In a statement, the police said the force was keeping an open mind on the motive for the London attacks, but that many of the allegations involved threatening phone calls or racist abuse. A spokesman said “reassurance patrols” were being carried out in areas considered vulnerable. A spokesman for the Muslim Council of Great Britain said there was a real sense of “fear and apprehension” among many Muslim communities, particularly in London. Senior Muslim figures met over the weekend to discuss how best to deal with the increasingly tense climate. A spokesman for the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) said yesterday that there was an “increased level of concern” among the public in general and the Muslim community in particular since the bombings but stressed community relations on the whole had been “reassuringly calm.” ACPO president Chris Fox said he believed low level incidents of violence had not been reported to the police. “We encourage everyone to report this type of obnoxious and dangerous behaviour, from whatever quarter, for full police investigation because we are determined there will be a very robust enforcement response to it. “It is absolutely crucial that there should be no reaction against any section of the community. That would simply play into the hands of the murderers,” he said.
— PTI |
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Pentagon denies knowledge of leaked British memo
Washington, July 11 However, a Pentagon spokesman said yesterday that the officials had not seen the document. After the leak of the memo in British media yesterday, Reid said in a statement that the government had “made it absolutely plain that we will stay in Iraq for as long as is needed.” The memo, details of which were published in ‘The Mail’ daily yesterday allowed for a reduction in overall US-led troops in Iraq to 66,000. The coalition force troop level in Iraq now is about 1,60,000, including 1,38,000 American troops, according to a military spokesman in Baghdad. The undated memo stated that “current US political military thinking is still evolving. But there is a strong US military desire for force reductions.”
— PTI |
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Sir Ganga Ram Memorial to be restored
Lahore, July 11 Besides damaging the memorial here, mobs protesting the 1992 demolition of the Babri mosque in Ayodhya also pulled down its six pillars and eight latticed windows. Two water tanks were damaged and rare plants in the small garden surrounding the memorial uprooted. Now, there are no traces of the tanks and the garden as the locals have cemented the once grassy ground and erected electricity poles for playing night cricket, The News reported on Monday. Cracks appeared in the main structure a few weeks ago, after which officials of the Evacuee Trust Property Board visited the place and ordered that repair work should begin. The federal government provided the funds for this. The memorial had been built on the wish of Ganga Ram, who wanted to be laid to rest adjacent to Lahore's Apahaj Ashram and Widows Home. The philanthropist, who has a major hospital named after him in the Indian capital, Ganga Ram was born in 1851 and died on July 10, 1927, in London. His body was brought here for cremation on August 15, 1947. Before the subcontinent's partition in 1947, a fair used to be held at the memorial on his birth anniversary. Ganga Ram was an engineer by profession and the man behind the construction of various Lahore buildings such as the museum, Aitcheson College, the Mayo School of Art, the high court, the General Post Office, the Government College Chemistry Block and the Mayo Hospital Albert Victor Ward. He also built Sir Ganga Ram Free Hospital, the Hailey College of Commerce, Lady McLegon Girls High School, the Ravi Road Orphanage, the Sir Ganga Ram Trust Building on The Mall and residences for Hindu and Sikh widows. Abdul Hameed, who lives in front of the memorial, said the place had become a haven for drug addicts. Complaints were lodged with the police but in vain. The Evacuee Trust Property Board was finally informed and took action. A board official said the memorial was protected by the Punjab Special Premises Act of 1986, but the Punjab Archaeology Department had ignored it.
— IANS |
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No compromise on Kashmir: Pak minister
Islamabad, July 11 “There is no question of a sell-out on this (Kashmir) issue,” Faisal Saleh Hayat told a convention of overseas Pakistanis in New York. Pakistan had not compromised its stand on the issue, which is the centre-piece of the current dialogue process, the local daily The News quoted him as saying. Pakistan remained of the view that no “sustainable or durable” settlement was possible without the involvement of the people of Kashmir in the peace process that has eased tensions on the subcontinent, he said. The recent visit of APHC leaders had helped start a dialogue among the Kashmiris on both sides of the Line of Control, paving the way for a consensus on the issue, Hayat said.
— PTI |
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NASA to send Kalpana’s picture aboard Discovery
Houston, July 11 Jean P Harrison, widower of Chawla said he was sending a photograph of his wife aboard Discovery, which is poised for liftoff day with five -man, two-woman crew on Wednesday. The picture of Kalpana is from her college days in India, where she is sitting in her dorm room surrounded by photographs of aircraft and one of a space shuttle. Relatives of at least three of the seven Columbia astronauts, Jonathan Clark -widower of astronaut Laurel; Sandy Anderson, widow of astronaut Michael Anderson; and Doug Brown, brother of astronaut David Brown plan to attend the launch of Discovery. They are also sending mementoes up with Discovery’s crew, such as flags, gold medallions, a Columbia mission pin.
— PTI |
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